You've Sailed Bliss and Now the Joy, What is Your Take?

[need2cruisesoon]

I've sailed the Bliss last November (Panama Canal) and now recently booked the Joy (12/8) for the Mexico Riviera this December.

 

Please enlighten me on sameness' and differences between these 2 beautiful ships?

 

Love this class of ship.

 

 

[aero777]

Sorry to butt in, haven’t sailed the Bliss but did sail the Joy and loved it! As a matter of fact we’re itching to go back to the Joy and are looking at the 12/8/19 sailing. What a coincidence. 

Some of the differences I see are :

  Joy has no thermal spa

  Joy has no Coco’s

  Joy has no Los Lobos

  Joy has a nice Spice H2O with lots of shade        and a huge hot tub

   Joy has the Galaxy Pavilion 

 Joy has the American Dinner instead of Margaritaville 

    Joy has Footloose, which we loved

    Joy has Elements, we also loved 

    Joy had the best Wine Lovers the Musical we’ve ever seen (out of 3 ships)

    Joy’s The Local is not very pub like but still very nice

 

Pretty much everything else looks the same to me.

   

Hopefully others can add to this list...

   

 

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by aero777

[Sadric]

Written Day 5:

The NCL Joy is a large and pretty ship with copious features that will no doubt delight many people. Prior to departure, I had read many accounts of people’s journeys with the Joy post westernization and found many to be overly critical. Expectations should be managed. Nothing is perfect by any means but to condemn a brand new ship and crew based on one error shows flaws in expectations.

I write this on the last sea day. Victoria tomorrow followed by a return to Seattle. I write this review to highlight where this ships flaws are and where her strengths are.

Embarkation was a breeze at 11 am. We arrived and were in our cabin by 11:30. There was no discombobulation as many have reported. It was incredibly efficient and well done. Pier 66 is a bit hard to get to as the Streets of Seattle are not conducive to the volumes of people arriving at one location but inside the building, NCL handled the crowds with precision. The few problems I witnessed were with guests who did not have proper documentation which I lay on their shoulders not NCL.

The ship itself is an odd layout with multiple decks reserved for just cabins with no public space at all. Basically everything from Deck 9 – 14 is cabin territory with nothing else public except for the oddly placed medical center on Deck 13. There is ample deck space which was never utilized on this Alaska voyage. The cool weather was just too persistent. So why pools, slides, and a few bars were open up there, only the most intrepid of explorers wandered out and a few people who had an apparent total immunity to cold used the pools. I think the Government should take these people to research facilities for close study. Few really used the laser tag and the go karts. One major flaw on this ship is devoting so much deck space to this and mini golf. For the love of God, please put a sports court back on this ship. A basketball court that is free is a much better use of space for most people. The teenagers on this ship were aching for it. I had a 14 year old with me and he reported how disappointed everyone was. He used both the go carts and the laser tag once. A sports court would have been used consistently. The mini golf was never used and is no better than a putting green. Eliminate this!

 

Written Day 6

The atrium stays bizarrely crowded with no seating and consistent mayhem. Between people arguing , Dan Dan the Cruise Director shilling for Bingo, pre cruise consultations, the internet café, a great bar, and Starbucks there is a lot going on. I don’t understand why they don’t use Q or the theater more for the game shows and other things.  The Atrium is packed liked a clown car all the time while the rest of the ship remains largely unused. Basically a mom or someone with a family sets up camp in the morning in the chairs and never leaves. Refuse builds around them as the day progresses until at the end of the evening, they are largely buried under buffet plates and tall mocha frappacino double soy expresso frappe cups. You see small eyes periodically peer out from under the pile furtively glancing around for a glimpse of a free jewelry giveaway.

Speaking of the buffet, my knowledge here is limited and my few experiences were not the best. The buffet is a jabberwock of a setup. The dream of a mad man in a maze. I don’t understand the layout at all. It takes up a huge amount of Deck 16 while still managing to offer as little seating as possible. It is very confusing and rarely yields too many edible nuggets despite the volume of the offerings. Much is repeated at different areas and lines are crazy long. There is enough seating for maybe a family of 5 while most make the death march down one deck to the Observation lounge for additional seating wistfully looking around for a tray so that they might add a drink to their plates. At one point I very much was thinking about the scene in the Hobbit where the Dwarves invade Bilbo’s house eating everything in sight and sing wildly “Chip the glasses and crack the plates that’s what Bilbo Baggins Hates”!

 

The Observation Lounge on Deck 15 is HUGE and used nicely with a Starbucks, a bar, games and drink stations as well as evening light meal offerings from 10:30 PM to midnight. My favorite, the egg salad was very well done and reminiscent of a southern 4^th of July Picnic sandwich lovingly made by your favorite grandmother. I liked this area in general and it would be better used as a place once in a while where you could go for a game show (rather than the atrium). Also a note…I never found either Starbucks to be crowded.

 

Now on to the entertainment. Footloose which is a movie I loved was not well executed. The primary problem is not the acting and singing which was all admirably well done but the source material itself which is thin and to continue the Hobbit reference felt like too little butter spread over too much bread. Again the cast did a lot with a little here but you just can’t shine dirt. I knew we were all in trouble about 30 minutes in. The first of the kids started to become restless and parents started breaking out games on phones for them. Across the theater little beacons of light started erupting all over the theater as if we all received breaking news at the same time. This was ok at first but after 45 minutes the first cries erupted followed by parents trying desperately too quiet them down. I didn’t know then but wish I did that we had over an hour left. Things really took off during the second diner scene an hour in. Parents started ushering their little crying treasures out of the theater never to return. They were the lucky ones. At 1 hour and 15 the drunks started leaving, either needing to use the restrooms or to get more drinks (they don’t serve them during the show and there is nowhere to get one). They also never returned no doubt finding solace in their drink packages. At 1 hour 30 it was pandemonium. This was what I call “The Exodus”, older folks mostly no longer able to sit for such a duration had to exit. It was just time. I don’t know why. It was like some universal unseen bell went off and en masse our elders left. I never saw many of them again. There is a science fiction book in there somewhere I just know it. Finally, at 1 hour 50 minutes as the last song was sung and the lights went on, the survivors were revealed. It looked like the Fields of Gettysburg in 1863. Those that were left were in some fashion wounded, no longer able to stand and pale as ghosts. We mostly sat stunned and withered waiting on Dan Dan the Cruise Director to release us with his healing powers.

 

Now that being said, Elements was awesome and at 50 minutes just the right length. This show rivals any cruise lines best attempts and even compares well with my favorite, Aladdin from DCL. It hit all the right notes and was well executed.

 

Well off to Victoria. More to come!